First deer I've seen on our property all year!  

OK. Now I see the deer.

Ha ha. Cute. Yeah, the first picture is a human baby: me, about 56 years ago. The second picture I just took.

They must have ultra sensitive hearing and eyesight, too, because I took these photos from inside my house and the deer froze as soon as I moved the curtain! She whipped her head around and stood there for a few more seconds before going back to munch on the greenery. LUCKILY, that wasn't anything I planted. And, yep, they LOVE those tasty green leaves! The bucks can tear a tree to shreds! I've seen more than one tree around here with the bark gone completely from one side, up around antler-level. They use trees to get rid of the soft covering on their newly-grown antlers.

I'm slowly putting up fencing, more like a living fence of flowering vines, so the deer won't even see my garden. From what I've read, they don't go after what they can't see. One can only hope, huh?

We have a horse farm down near the end of our private road. Luckily, they are well-fenced-in. Sometimes, I catch them beside the fence and I'll talk to them for a few minutes before going on my way. I don't think they understand me, though, because they always keep that same blank look on their faces. Hmmm... Maybe I should become a horse whisperer?

Anyway, GLAD TO SEE YOU BACK HERE!!! What have you been doing with yourself, you naughty boy? 'Bout time you came back!!!

Dang, I wanted to post another photo of the deer. Well, here it is.

Cute baby. But hey, I'm not back! Just observing Dad's Day, which means I get to do whatever I want for a change!
And I saw the pix; how cute they are. I love those animals...and bears, and chimps. But I don't suppose you have those; you have geese. I like your idea of the fence.
Now about the horses: They're amazing! And I do believe they understand a whole lot more than we give them credit for. I made friends with a neighbor's horse and I'm almost certain they quit bringing him to graze next to us because he really liked me, as I did him, even if my dogs got jealous. Horses may look blank but they aren't.
Animals... they're almost as intricate as people.

Geez! I'm so sorry! I completely forgot! HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!! Enjoy!!!!!

With my father long gone, my stepfather gone and hubby not being a father (and a pretty lousy stepfather), it just completely slipped my mind!

Oh, I know all about horses. I know they can think and reason. Where I grew up, we had a neighbor who owned a Golden Palomino. I would visit as often as I could. I adored that horse and I knew he understood me.

Now, about bears and chimps... I've been told that black bears are occasionally seen around here but I haven't seen any yet. Chimps, no, but I do want to get a trunk monkey!

I don't know if you've seen those clips of a chimp in the trunk of cars for protection, have you? One has the chimp sitting in the back seat with a young guy and gal in the front seat, trying to get, umm, cozy and the chimp kocks the rifle he's holding. (MyLot doesn't like it when I spell 'kocks' correctly.) Another one has the driver getting pulled over for a speeding ticket and the chimp gets out of the trunk and offers the cop a bunch of money. They're hysterically funny! I want a trunk monkey!!!

Again, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!! I hope your day is as enjoyable as you want it to be!

I've only seen a couple of those trunk monkey flicks and they are funny indeed. One comes out of the trunk and beats the crap out of a guy who steals the car.

Some areas of the island are being overrun by monkeys that were brought here for studies and experiments and supposedly got to be too many, so now they're loose and creating havoc among growers. Allegedly, there are rewards for killing or capturing them but I haven't seen one yet and they run in bands. Poor things. I don't even know which type monkeys they are, but I'm not shooting one!

OH! And I wish I could have taken a picture of the enormous iguana I saw the other day. It seems it was crossing a road and a guy was trying to protect it from being run over. It was a good four feet long.

THANKS FOR THE GOOD WISHES! I'll do my best.
MMMMMMMmmmmmuah!!! (that's a smooch)

That guy sounds like me after the deer ran into my car. I jumped out and ran to the middle of the road, stopping traffic from both sides because the deer had broken it's back and was flopping all over the place in the road. Poor deer!

My son had an iguana once. He got it, free, from a friend of his. It was about 2 feet long at the time. I bought him a 55 gallon, long, tank with everything he needed to keep his iguana happy (are they ever really happy???) and healthy. (The tank was his birthday present that year.) But, he outgrew that tank, so my son sold him to someone who had the room. We can't just let them roam free around here. It's way too cold in the winter.

ABSOLUTELY! Iguanas, monitors and other reptiles like them need specific temperatures and rest areas and can grow enormous and even dangerous if not kept "content". Well, at least that's what I have read about them. They have some gorgeous iguanas here that are emerald green and they call them gallina de palo, which means "tree chicken" (weird), apparently because of their climbing though I don't understand the chicken part (maybe what they taste like?)

Yeah, I remember your story about the deer. How did that story end? I forgot.

That story ended with me having antlers to mount on the wall and venison in my freezer!

After the cop shot the deer to put it out of it's misery, I looked at my car for the first time and saw the damage it had done. It damaged the windshield, the hood, the grill, the left quarter panel and the left headlight. I wasn't insured for deer damage! (I only had the basic coverage because I'm a pretty safe driver.)

After seeing the damage, I was so angry that I asked the cop if I could have the deer. He said SURE! I think he was glad that he didn't have to notify anyone to come and dispose of the dead deer. I took it home, skinned it, gutted it, chopped it up and ATE it! (I did give some away... that was a LOT of meat!)

The way I saw it, I was going to get SOMETHING out of that accident, although that was some expensive meat! It caused $2,000.00 worth of damage to my car... and that was 10 years ago! I think I have a photo of the damage somewhere on this computer... let me check.

HA, HA, HA! I guess some might consider that a good trade. I remember now...I would have wanted some of that venison.

However, as I think about it, maybe that deer wouldn't have shared your view of your driving. (just kidding)

OH! and I didn't realize there's such a thing as deer damage insurance. Geez, you learn something every day.

I saw one ambulance that had run into a horse. That was bad. Now I wonder if they had horse damage insurance!

YO! I just realized...this is the first time our whole exchange keeps getting notified... It used to be just a couple of months ago, that a person might not know that there was a reply, am I wrong ?

Well, I finally found the 22 rounds that my husband couldn't find. We went out last night and he bought a cleaning kit for the 22 rifle so I'll be able to bag a deer, maybe. Of course, this IS the first one I've seen this year which is rare. Usually, I see them all year.

However, I wanted the 22 for those darned geese! They eat EVERYTHING! Who knows? Maybe I'll be able to have venison AND goose this winter!

Actually, I don't think I could kill anything. I might, if they make me angry enough (destroying my crops). Guess I should practice my aim before I'm forced to use it, huh?

I did shoot a goose in the butt with a pellet gun last year. I was so angry with them because they ate half of my veggie crops and managed to "goose" a goose. That's all it did... just made him jump a little and walk a little faster into the lake.

I love the wildlife, but not when they're eating my stuff! Slowly, with the help of my son, I'm getting a fence built around the property... just some fencing with 2" x 4" holes, so my flowering vines can grow up and around them and eventually hide them completely. I like the look of a "living fence" much more than wire!

Here's another picture of the deer:

Just to kill them, thats a waste, but to kill for the table I like that Idea.

For those Geese, Get some CHEEP Booze, get some Pollard or Bran what ever is the cheapest feed, Make a wet mash up and plenty of it.

Put it out and the greedy things will eat it all and FALL over drunk, Then you just go out and pick them up.

I am not joking on this, Thats how easy it to catch them.

Make a wire net pen with one opening, Make a food trail into the pen have a wire door on a cord that will drop when you tug the cord, (Fishing line is good for that, again Plenty og Geese to eat.

HICCUP/

Will beer work? We always have beer here and, the more I give to the geese, the less my husband will drink! Well, I'd like to think it would work that way. (He drinks WAY too much beer.)

I'll do that! I seem to remember you telling this to me last year. The problem is with my memory. I forget so much unless something jogs my memory, which you've just done.

Yep, I'd be more than happy to get the pesky birds drunk! LOL It would be simple after that to prepare them for the table! I couldn't kill them, I don't think, but my husband said he would. I can clean them, just can't kill them. Well, from a distance, maybe, I couldn't just grab one and break it's neck or anything.

I'd LOVE to reduce the goose population! It keeps growing bigger and bigger. We had 12 or 13 geese here last year but at least 20 this year. Thinning out the "herd" is humane, plus it puts free meat on the table!

I'd NEVER hunt for sport and detest those who do. But, hunting for food, well, that's what all the other animal species do, right? I'm not too fond of "hunting" for meat at the grocery store. They charge too much money!

I'll tell you what... when I get another freezer full of venison and goose, you can come over and help me eat it! How's that sound? We can supplement the meals with all the vegetables I'm growing! Wow! I just amazed myself! The thought of eating an entire meal that I didn't pay a penny for... I had just never thought of that before. That's so cool!!!

Of course, if I caught them in a pen, I'd probably name them all and keep them as pets. I've heard that goose eggs are especially rich in protein, too!

Goose eggs in cooking cakes and things is wonderful (Same as duck eggs).

You need something with a kick in it, some bace spirits would be the best like VODKA, you can get that cheep.
Even bottles of cheep red/white wine.

Even to catch some for egg laying and chick breeding would be good.

A bit like why give a man a feed when you can give him a fishing rod and he will always have a feed. Same with them Geese.

Maybe in life your purpose is to catch them and and use them that way, you would always have eggs and meat, not to mention the good droppings for the garden.

Just another way to look at it.

HICCUP/

Wow! I had never thought of that! I've been wanting to get some chickens, mostly for eggs. Of course, I'd have to buy chicks (they sell them near here at a farmer's supply store) and they take about a year before laying eggs. These geese are already full-grown! Well, most are. Some are goslings, but they've almost grown all of their feathers.

We have plenty of space to build a "goose coop" (I'm thinking they're not much different than chickens and I was going to build a chicken coop) plus a very large pen to run around in. I'd have to clip their wings so they couldn't fly away, but I don't see that being a problem as long as they're still drunk. LOL Or, I could build a "roof" out of chicken wire (I believe it's called poultry wire now).

Hmmm... that DOES give me some great ideas! That farmer's supply house sells baby chicks and ducklings... maybe I could sell baby geese to them to sell to farmers! Hmmm... definitely something to think about!

I had two grey geese as fishing buddies at one time. I always brought something to feed them whenever I went fishing. This was before we moved here. These geese would take food from my hand! Whenever they saw me, they'd waddle (or swim) on over to see what I had for them. They got to be so tame! I guess I should have taken them home with me because, the last year I went fishing at that river, one of them was missing. I know that geese mate for life, so something had to have happened to the other one. I was very sad for the remaining goose.

But, back to what you wrote. I'm always trying to find ways to be more self-sufficient and your idea sounds great! Although, I'd better make sure that any geese I capture to keep don't start calling out for the wild geese because I'd always have a yard full of geese! Well, as long as I protect my veggie garden and berry bushes and fruit trees, I guess it would be okay.

Geez, now I don't even have to buy baby chicks! Awesome! You're going to have one tremendous feast if you ever get yourself over this way!

You could builds a fully enclosed chicken pen.

And make some big wire boxes to catch them on Like I said lay feed down and they will walk into the cage, use the fishing line on the trap door (Flap) to pull to close it and catch them.

They love bread, just soak it so its easy for them to eat.

Good luck with it.

HICCUP/

I went and looked at your photos before responding (and also wrote comments). I must admit that I thought that caribou looked like an albino moose at first!

Having never seen either in the wild, I have to admit my lack of knowledge about them. All I do know is that moose (meeces? moosii?) are HUGE!!! I'd be terrified if they wandered anywhere near me!

I'll stick with our deer. They weigh about the same as humans so they're not so frightening. Besides, one tiny noise or movement on your part and they're GONE! They're very skittish critters. I'll post the photo I took right after the deer noticed that I was at the window to take it's picture. It whipped it's head around fast, then stood motionless for a few seconds, to make sure all was safe, then resumed its munching on the leaves.

I agree that they are beautiful. When I saw the first one after we moved here, I was thrilled! BUT, that was before one of them almost destroyed my peach tree! Apparently, peach trees are very tasty to deer. Now, I just want them to stay away from the area where I've planted my fruit trees, berry bushes and my veggie garden. We're slowly building a fence around that area, but I don't want it looking like a fence, so I'm planting flowering vines and, once they get a good foothold, we put up a section of fencing for the vines to grow on, covering the fencing. Eventually, I should have all the "deer inlets" blocked.

The deer can still wander up the road and on the other side, which is also our property. I love watching them! I just want them to stop eating things that I've planted. There's plenty for them to munch on on the other side of the road!

That road is a private road so there is not much traffic at all, plus the speed limit is 10 miles per hour. I know that the deer around here are safe.

BUT, just before deer hunting season begins, we're usually inundated by deer! They're all over the place! I had a deer run into my car once, years ago, breaking it's back. I wanted to take it home and "fix" it, but there was no fixing it. I did, however, jump out of my car and into the middle of the road, stopping traffic because the deer was flopping around in the middle of the road.

A police car stopped and the cop got out and shot the deer in the head to put it out of it's misery. I felt really bad... until...!!! I saw the damage that deer had done to my car and I wasn't covered for deer damage! It destroyed my windshield, my hood, the left front quarter panel, the grill and left headlight. Man! I was pissed!

And now, living here in the mountains of Virginia, there are deer everywhere! I feel really bad when I see one, dead, on the side of the road, though. They don't understand about cars or trucks. We have warning signs out wherever deer cross often, but that still doesn't help when they come out of the total dark and you don't see them until they're right in front of you, or, in my case, rolling over my hood and windshield! I didn't see it even a split-second before the collision!

Happily, around our house, they're very safe, unless I catch another one nibbling at my fruit trees!

We moved here in May 2007 and I saw quite a lot of deers that first year. Last year, I saw maybe a dozen the whole year. This year, this is the first deer I've seen. Maybe they're moving higher into the mountains.

I love watching them. They have such sweet temperaments and are so graceful. BUT, they do love young fruit trees! They almost destroyed my peach tree by eating all the leaves and young branches on it. It's still alive, but barely.

I've been told that black bears can be seen occasionally around here but I haven't seen any, yet. We get skunks, raccoons, opossums, chipmunks, rabbits, squirrels, groundhogs, geese, ducks and occasional turtles and frogs.

It's almost like we live in a wildlife sanctuary! LOL

We actually had another visitor after the deer today. Our neighbors were fishing on our property this morning which happens to be the best place to fish from our lake, also because these neighbors don't live on the lake and we like to be neighborly and let any of the neighbors fish from our property. They have an OLD basset hound dog and, before we noticed them fishing down at the lake, the dog came wandering up our driveway. I went outside to see if it had a name tag or anything to know where it lives, but there was nothing. She was an awfully sweet dog, even though she was very fat and very old. She came right over to me, flopped down and rolled over so I would scratch her tummy. LOL

Anyway, I heard her "daddy" calling for her so, with a LOT of urging from me, I finally made her go back where she belonged. She kept stopping every few feet and rolling over for me to scratch her tummy again. LOL

We've had quite a few stray animals find there way here. The two dogs that have showed up belonged to neighbors but we've had a few cats that were obviously lost or abandoned. We kept one but the others I took to an animal shelter, one that doesn't euthanize animals.

There's always something happening around here!

No, it's not a ranch. We own three and a half acres of land in the mountains. About one and a half are wooded, the rest is open. It's the open part where I'm planting my fruit trees and berry bushes. I'm in the process of fencing that area in so the deer can't get to my plants but can still wander around the property.

I LOVE watching them! They really are such beautiful creatures! I just want them, and all the other wildlife, to keep away from my fruits, berries and vegetables! We also have groundhogs, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, skunks, opossums, geese, ducks and every now and then I see a turtle or frog wandering around. We have a LOT of frogs near the lake but every once in a while I find a tree frog in the front yard.

I LOVE it here! I'll be much happier, though, as soon as all my edible plants are protected from these critters! I've already blocked off the most accessible spots where I noticed them getting in so there haven't been too many getting in to eat my vegetables, fruits or berries lately. I'm so glad!!! With the weather being so rainy, I'm losing enough to rain; I don't need critter damage on top of it!

This is my dream home. It's what I've wanted my entire life, since I was a little girl. It took me 55 years to finally get here and I hope I never have to leave.

If you ever visit this way, please let me know because I'd love to have you stay here! It's so very peaceful and relaxing.

ooops, sorry I forgot. No they never have damaged anything. I have apple trees out back. I do throw out breads, carrots, apples, the last of the lettuce head with some lettuce of course, and other things for them, the possum, rabbits, and anything else that might be out there.

Those are the two times that deer wander around the most. It's those times that are especially dangerous for drivers and they should always be more cautious at dusk or dawn.

This one was out in the middle of the day which made it so surprising. She was a young gal, probably just lost her spots, because she wasn't big at all. I LOVE seeing the babies! They are always so sweet, trotting after Momma and playing. I saw a pair of twins once and almost couldn't drive after that. It was just so sweet and got to me so much that I was awestricken for awhile.

I love nature in all forms, especially the wildlife and especially when they are so beautiful and graceful. We get many, many different kinds of critters around here, too. I wouldn't mind any of them staying around permanently, as long as my crops are protected from them! I grow enough veggies each year, usually, and have more than enough to share with the wildlife, as long as they give me the chance to harvest them first and put them FAR away from my garden for them to munch on.

LOL, I know what you mean. I use to have a garden when I was able to work one and the rabbits, squirrels, possums, ducks, horses (when one or more got out), and raccoons would get into it.
I too love watching the babies play. They are adorable. I also watch the others graze and many times I talk to the critters, no matter which ones it is. I totally love animals. They are so special to me.

Haha! No thanks! We have enough of our own around here! Opossums, skunks, voles, mice, chipmunks, raccoons, squirrels, rabbits, geese and ducks, along with the deer.

I'm building barricades around the area where I grow my fruit trees, berry bushes and veggies. We put up a section at a time and I have flowering vines growing up and around the wire mesh, mostly to hide what's behind them but also to make them look like a living fence instead of something manmade.

Supposedly, deer don't want what they can't see, so I'm hoping that my living fence will force them to look elsewhere for their goodies. But, we have about 2 acres that I want to fence in so it may take awhile. We can't afford to do the entire thing at once so we're doing the most used accesses first.

As for the smaller critters, they'll manage to get in no matter what. My vegetables are protected by fencing that goes underground about a foot. I have 1/4" wire mesh underground a foot and about a foot above ground to keep the burrowing critters out, the smaller ones like voles and mice. The chicken wire works for the larger critters.

Still, I spray my trees, bushes and veggies with a pepper spray I make from half hot sauce and half water or from boiled habanero peppers. One taste of that and they'll stay away!

I heard that deer will eat absolutely everything if they're hungry enough, although a lot of plants claim to be deer resistant. I'm glad you told me, though! I have a lot of hostas and bleeding hearts out front (where it's mostly shaded) so I'm going to start including them in the pepper spray-a-thon that takes place after almost every rain!

Try the hot pepper spray... it works!

Those opossums are everywhere! There was one HUGE one that used to visit me every night when I lived in the county, near the city border. Luckily, he always came around the front of the house, not the back where my veggie garden was. I'd throw something out there almost every night and catch him nibbling on it. I guess it helped to keep him from finding the smorgasbord around back! LOL

Also, the area I used to live in was fully developed, with almost no wooded areas and, occasionally, there would be one or two deer running across a road. I saw more than one deer dead on the side of the road. I think it's because so much natural land is being built up that the deer are forced to come closer to humans to find food.

I've wanted a country home for most of my life, since I was a little girl. Luckily, I knew what I was getting into, with all the wildlife. Having a vegetable garden or even trying to grow fruit trees is just a little harder than it is in a city or town... certain precautions have to be taken to keep them from devouring the fruits (and vegetables) of your labor. I'm learning as I go along.

If I were rich, I might've wanted to live just far enough out to have horses, but I'm not, so I'd just as soon live in town, so my commute isn't as long.

I personally liked living 10 minutes from mom & work (20 on a really bad traffic day.)

We live on a lake and have all those things, too, including turtles. It gets so loud around dusk with the frogs and toads croaking! There are flood pipes that lead from the lake, under the private road to the other side, which is lower ground and there is always a small stream there, unless it rains and turns into a raging river! I've seen tadpoles in that stream. It takes me back to when I was a little girl, going to a stream near our house and catching tadpoles and bringing them home. I now understand why my parents were always upset when I'd bring them home! LOL They'd quickly turn into frogs! Sadly, I always had to let them go back at the stream. But, there was always a fresh supply of new tadpoles to be had!

I've seen just about everything out there around here, except bears. I've heard that an occasional black bear can be seen around here but I haven't seen any, yet. I hope I never do! I have a cousin who lives in higher mountains in Pennsylvania and she has trouble with black bears destroying her bird feeders. I'm very thankful that I haven't had to deal with them! I hope I never do!